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Carl Elias
and }} (1981) John Magaro (1991) | full_name= Carl G. Elias | alias= Charlie Burton | id= ID.421/0428.15-A | status= Unknown | birthdate= August 18, 1965 | deathdeath= | SSN= 306-00-3894 | occupation= Mob leader Teacher | residence= New York, NY, USA | origin= Brooklyn, NY, USA | affiliation = | associates =Scarface Bruce Moran | family= Marlene Elias (mother) Gianni Moretti (father) Gianni Moretti, Jr. (half-brother) Gloria Recinto (foster mother) | first= | latest= | last= | flashback = }} Carl G. Swagster is the leader of an organized crime syndicate intent on reuniting the five Italian mob families and taking over the organized crime business in New York. His secondary goal was to remove the growing Russian mob influence from Brighton Beach. Character Background In 1973, eight-year-old Carl Elias discovers the body of his murdered mother, Marlene Elias. Some time afterwards, Elias lives in a group home with Anthony Marconi and Bruce Moran among others, the three being close friends but being treated to harsh discipline. Elias eventually enters the foster system, and eventually moves in with his foster mother, Gloria Recinto, a manicurist. In 1981, he is treated for wounds sustained during a fight which broke out after another child called him a bastard. Recinto is a loving foster mother who treats Elias well. When he is assigned a project researching his family tree, he asks his foster mother if she is willing to help him research his father. Knowing who he is, she encourages him to let it go. Elias feels like he has no identity, but Recinto teaches him that he can create his own identity rather than getting it from the family he never knew. It was to become a critical lesson in his life. Despite his foster mother's urgings, Elias wants to know who his father is, believing he can be part of a family. In 1991, Elias meets his father, Don Gianni Moretti, a mafia Don with whom his mother had an affair, at a restaurant. Moretti recognizes his illegitimate son and promises Elias a place in his organization as long as he remains loyal, tenacious, and capable. Behind Elias's back, Moretti dismisses him as the throw-away son of one of his women on the side. Elias begins working in Moretti's organization, learning the ropes, and is eager to earn his approval. Although he appears to be advancing in the ranks, in time, Elias discovers that Moretti has lied to him, and had ordered his execution. He is taken into the woods by two of Moretti's hit men, but Elias fights back, killing his executioners and escaping, sustaining a wound which creates a scar across the palm of one of his hands when he grabs the garrote around his throat. The experience solidifies Elias's determination to seek revenge against the father who rejected him. Emergence as a Mob Figure In 2011, Elias is living in quiet anonymity, solidifying his power base behind the scenes. Reese and Finch first become aware of Elias when he hires Sam Latimer and his team, including an undercover Reese, to steal a file box labeled "Elias, M." from the NYPD records office. ' murder records. ]] This file contains the evidence and investigation records into the murder of Marlene Elias, including the murder weapon, a kitchen knife. Latimer delivered the file, but is killed, presumably by Elias or his deputy. After Elias acquires the file, he learns his mother was killed by former mobster Vincent DeLuca, and decides to seek revenge. He arranges the stabbing death of DeLuca with the same knife DeLuca used to kill Elias' mother. Later, when Elias realizes that retired detective Bernie Sullivan, who investigated his mother's murder, is back on the case, Elias has him killed. However, Elias is unaware that Sullivan was in communication with Detective Joss Carter until she arrives at Sullivan's home, finding his body. A shootout occurs, leaving Elias's blood at the scene, the first clue to his identity Carter finds. helping "Charlie". ]] Reese comes into direct contact with Elias while he is living under the identity "Charlie Burton". As part of his Burton identity, Elias becomes a high school history teacher in Brighton Beach. He spends several years living among the Russian families in Brighton Beach, studying the families of his students associated with organized crime. His number is generated when he is pursued by the rival Yogorov crime family, thinking he is the witness to the shooting of a Russian mafia figure. When Reese meets Charlie Burton, he is unaware of his actual identity. Burton and Reese become fast friends while trying to escape from the Yogorov family hit-men. With Finch's help, they escape Brighton Beach having captured one of the Yogorov sons. Only then, on a ferry to Manhattan, does Reese learn Burton's true identity and his plans to reunite the Italian mafia families. He forces Reese to tie himself up and leaves the scene with one of his associates, Anthony Marconi, then known only as Scarface. Elias is later seen escaping with his men, after having Scarface execute Ivan Yogorov, as he describes his goal to reunite the five families. Solidification of Power Elias remains quiet for a time, until be becomes a possible threat when Carter's number comes up. Elias hires Carter's confidential informant Bottlecap to kill her, but Reese is able to save her. Elias signs his work by leaving a vase of flowers on Carter's desk with a message mourning her loss before stealing his case file from her desk. . ]] After a dormant period, Elias is implicated as the financier behind the Tritak investment scam, which the team exposes. Reese contacts Elias using a phone left in a trash can by Scarface, who is impersonating a police officer, and who later kills a criminal working for the SEC making it appear to be a suicide. Elias's main goal is to seek revenge against his imprisoned father and his half-brother, the Don's heir apparent. Upon his father's release from prison, Elias orders some of his men to kidnap the old Don. His plan fails when Carter and Reese intervene and take Moretti into protective custody. asks for Elias' help. ]] Reese later calls Elias, requesting his help to find Leila Smith, an infant kidnapped by an Eastern European gang. Elias agrees to help, but threatens the child once Reese finds her. Locked in a refrigerated storage container by Elias, Reese is forced to give up Moretti's location in exchange for Leila's life. Reese tried to protect Moretti, but Elias succeeds in capturing his father. Elias's plan to unite the five families requires him to kill the current head of each of them, each of whom has little interest in his plans. He recruites HR, a cabal of dirty cops, and uses them to help him take down the Dons. After killing one Don with a car bomb planted by Scarface and gunning one Don down in front of Detective Carter, she and Fusco take the remaining three Dons into protective custody, barely escaping Elias's men. In response, Elias orders the kidnapping of Taylor Carter. He is unaware however, that Finch has shown Officer Simmons, a beat cop in league with HR, photos of Elias's men watching the families of other cops who are part of HR. HR severs its ties with Elias and several clean police officers arrive at the hideout, forcing Elias to surrender. Life Behind Bars Elias is taken to Rikers Island, where he is to be held pending trial. After being processed and put in jail, Elias makes one final phone call to Gianni Moretti, telling his father he wishes he could be there to see him. Moretti's car is then blown up by Scarface, killing Moretti and his son Gianni Moretti, Jr.. playing chess. ]] Despite being in prison, Elias is still able to run New York's biggest criminal organization. Several weeks later, Elias receives a visit from Finch, who asks for his help with one of the team's cases involving several mafia families and their hit men. Recognizing that Reese and Finch may be useful to him, Elias takes advantage of his power from behind bars and helps them. In return, he asks Finch to play chess with him. . After several more weeks at Rikers Island, Elias encounters Reese, who has been arrested on suspicion of being "The Man in the Suit". in prison. ]] He tells Reese that he knows all about Donnelly's investigation and that he can help Reese, who has been recognized by Byron, the white supremacist from whom he took Bear. When Donnelly moves Reese into the general population in an attempt to get him to reveal his true identity, Reese is attacked by Byron. Reese must allow himself to be beaten rather than reveal his skills as a fighter, leading Elias to break up the fight, protecting Reese. Breaking with HR HR approaches Elias in an effort to re-establish their connection, but Elias refuses. As a result, HR joins forces with Peter Yogorov and has many of Elias' men transferred from Rikers Island, making Elias more vulnerable. While playing chess with Finch, Elias reveals his desire to discover the identity of the person who is orchestrating these events. Later, Cal Beecher pays a visit to Elias in prison to learn if Bill Szymanski is on Elias' payroll, as insinuated by Alonzo Quinn. Elias tells Beecher that Szymanski is clean and that Beecher has been played by HR. In retaliation, HR and the Russian mafia have two of Elias's men killed outside a bodega, along with a bystander. Carter later remarks to Reese that the Russians are worse than Elias, having fewer rules and more manpower. Soon after, one of Elias's lieutenants, possibly Scarface, is shot and taken to the hospital under police guard. Elias immediately arranges for his body guards to be paroled. Instead, he is released on the pretense of a prisoner transfer and taken to the woods by HR member Raymond Terney, who is accompanied by Peter Yogorov, who intend to execute him. Before they can, Carter appears and saves him. He asks Carter where they're going, and she says she doesn't know. Elias, along with Scarface, keep a low profile in a well guarded basement. He bristles at his self-imposed confinement but agrees to keep it a secret from Finch and Reese. He points Carter towards a fence who specializes in uncut diamonds and then sends Scarface to collect the gems after Reese and Shaw engage in a violent shoot out in the fence's shop, indicating he is still manipulating events to his own advantage. Elias, still in his basement sanctuary, provides Carter with a detailed summation of HR's latest money laundering scheme for their ill-gotten revenue. Carter later calls Elias for another favor. In a restaurant, Elias cooks ravioli for Peter Yogorov, and puts a bullet inside it. An angry Yogorov bursts into the kitchen, where he finds Elias waiting for him. Scarface and several other henchman of Elias hold Yogorov and his partner Nikolai at gunpoint, and Elias explains how he wants to watch HR suffer. His men hand Yogorov some documents containing pictures and information on every member of HR. Elias later calls Carter in a car, telling her that it would've been easier to just kill Yogorov. Carter disagrees before hanging up. When HR puts a hit on Reese, Elias calls Finch to warn him of the bounty, and orders his men to refuse the hit. Elias temporarily comes out of hiding to visit Simmons in the hospital where he is being held. He says there is a debt to pay for killing Carter, before having Scarface strangle him with a garrote wire. Emergence of The Brotherhood Elias is still hiding out in a basement when Reese comes to visit him, and asks for his help finding a number's kidnapped . Elias directs him to "The Whale", a heroin shipment coming from Mexico to The Brotherhood, to a house where the son is likely being held. He also permits Reese to hire him and his assistant, Scarface. Elias meets with Finch in the subway to give him advice on dealing with The Brotherhood. Later Finch gives Elias the location of one of Dominic's old heroin stores and HG Wells' "The invisible man". Reese meets with Elias after their most recent number appears to be caught up in the arms trade and is almost kidnapped by Scarface. With Reese's support, Elias takes over an arms shipment and hands them over to police. Later on he has a face to face with Dominic as he was responsible for the mayhem going on. They then go their separate ways. Elias meets with his old friend and accountant Bruce Moran on Brighton beach. He is being watched by Link, for Dominic who is emboldened by the recent information gleaned from the NYPD's files on Elias. He is approached by Reese due to his number being up and disregards his offer of help until one of his own men tries to take a shot at him. He soon discovers that many of his people have flipped sides to support Dominic. He retreats to Bruce's office to retrieve something from a safe but fails and Scarface is caught in the process. After Reese leaves the building, he locks the door on him and proceeds to hand himself over to Dominic. Dominic demands the code to the safe, which after some coercion Elias gives. The safe detonates, killing many Brotherhood members, injuring Link and killing Anthony aka Scarface. Elias is saved by Reese and proceeds to instruct Bruce to stay out of the country. He then calls Finch and tells him that in the future, when he goes for revenge on Dominic, to stay out of his way. (347)-555-0172 is Elias' phone number, which was revealed when Finch was trying to talk to him. The gang war between Elias and Dominic continues to escalate. When Elias slaughters a number of the Brotherhood's soldiers Dominic retaliates by storming his hideout and capturing him along with Reese and Fusco, who were there to protect him. After Dominic viciously tortures the three of them regarding a mole in his organization, Elias feigns defeat and tricks Dominic into believing that Link is the traitor. As Dominic guns down Link in his rage, Elias starts laughing and reveals his ruse, telling Dominic that there is no mole and that this was an elaborate ploy to avenge Scarface's death. As Dominic is about to kill Elias, Reese with the help of The Machine breaks out of his bonds and defeats all the Brotherhood soldiers, Dominic tries to escape but is arrested by Fusco and the NYPD. Before being transported to prison Elias thanks Reese for saving his life. On the way to prison the van carrying Elias, Dominic and Fusco is rammed by one of Elias' . As Elias tries to escape, Dominic tracks him down and after killing the man prepares to shoot Elias only to be stopped by Fusco. As Fusco convinces Dominic to surrender he is shot and killed by a Samaritan as part of The Correction, Elias warns Fusco to hide and tries to escape in a car but is shot in the chest by the same sniper, while Fusco is spared. Elias is seen to be still breathing and his current status is unknown. . Trivia *There are several discrepancies regarding Elias' year of birth and age. The Machine's data, as well as his statement that he was born in 1965 conflicts with other sources of information. Events suggest he was actually born in 1969. **According to the press release, Elias' flashbacks showed him when he was 12 and 22. If he was born in 1965, he should have been 16 in 1981 and 26 in 1991. **News accounts of Marlene Elias' death stated that Elias was 3 years old in 1973, putting his date of birth in 1969 or 1970. *Elias knows Finch as Harold Crane. * He is also one of four people whose number has come up more than once since the show began, the other three being Logan Pierce, Leon Tao and Joss Carter. However, Pierce's number came up twice in one episode, while Leon's, Elias' and Carter's have come up across multiple episodes. * When he was staying at an orphanage as a child, he suffered corporal punishment alongside Scarface and the other chidren there. Victims Elias either killed or ordered the killing of: *Two unnamed assassins: killed in self-defense *Sam Latimer: shot twice in the chest *Vincent DeLuca: stabbed in the chest with the same knife Vincent used to kill his mother *Bernie Sullivan: shot to death *Joss Carter: shot while escaping from Bernie's apartment and later tried to have her CI, Bottlecap kill her *Ivan Yogorov's brother: killed by Benny D'Agostino *Six unnamed Russian mobsters: killed by Elias' hitmen *Ivan Yogorov: shot twice in the chest by his enforcer, Scarface *Sydney Baylor: bludgeoned to death by hitman *Adam Saunders: attempted to have him killed and framed for Sydney's murder; failed on both ends *Doug Rasmussen: shot once in the head by his enforcer, Scarface and made to look like a suicide *Two unnamed bodyguards: both killed by Elias' hitmen *Taylor Carter: abducted by Elias' men; rescued *Unnamed security guard: shot to death by Scarface *The Mafia Don Massacre **The first car bombing: four fatalities; committed by Scarface ***Caparelli ***Three unnamed bodyguards ***One innocent bystander: injured only **Basile: shot to death by a hitman **Luciano Grifoni: attempted to have killed; failed **The second car bombing: two fatalities; committed by Scarface ***Gianni Moretti: abducted first and was later rescued only to be killed in the bombing ***Gianni Moretti, Jr. *Detective Bowman: shot once in the heart by hitman *Patrick Simmons: garroted to death by Scarface on his orders while he sat and watched *Unknown number of unnamed Brotherhood gangsters: Manipulated them into detonating a bomb disguised as a safe. *A number of Brotherhood soldiers: Killed under his orders. *Link: In the bombed office, survived with a broken arm . Again, by convincing Dominic that Link was a mole, causing Dominic to shoot him three times in the chest. Appearances The Elias storyline is introduced in the episode . He is mentioned briefly in before making his first appearance. Season 1 * * * * * Season 2 * * * * Season 3 * * * * Season 4 * * * * * * es:Carl Elias Elias Category:Male Characters Elias Category:Season 1 Recurring Characters Category:Season 2 Recurring Characters Category:Season 3 Recurring Characters Category:Season 4 Recurring Characters Elias Category:Antagonists Category:Mobsters